The present invention relates to computer graphics processing and displaying large data signals.
In conventional computerized waveform displays, large waveforms are displayed without considering their density information. A waveform is visually rendered by setting all pixel values the waveform traverses in the display bitmap to an ‘on’ value, to contrast it with pixel values that are not traversed by the waveform. The on value is set to a pre-defined foreground color value, and the ‘off’ value to a pre-defined background color value. However, this technique provides only a binary valued indication of where the waveform has traversed. When a long waveform is displayed, the end result is a massive ‘blob’ of uniform intensity value that envelopes the data. This makes it difficult to ascertain where the signal data spends most of its time within that envelope. Furthermore, it is difficult to identify salient features of the waveform within that envelope.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example display of such a data envelope. The example display illustrates a traditional waveform display of complex, noisy signals, and provides no information for separating the signal from its noise.
Various methods have been used to aid the display of large signal data. One such method includes the visualization of certain types of repetitive signals called ‘eye diagrams’, by using histogram-intensity mappings. Histograms are computed by using ‘bit buckets’ that store relative frequency information in static two-dimensional bins. However, the histograms capture a wrapped time period, capturing a repetitive feature of a ‘bounded’ signal; and do not capture the entire time-span of the signal. Moreover, the histograms do not capture the entire dynamic range of the signal. Further, there is no multi-resolution accuracy; therefore, rapid rendering of very large data signals is not possible.
In light of the foregoing discussion, a need exists for a fast, yet accurate manner of displaying data signals so that it is possible to highlight the salient features of these signals and discern where these signals spend most of their time. The present invention addresses such a need.